Volunteer Coach Allegedly Sent Explicit Texts To Teen Boys

MT. PLEASANT (KDKA) — A former volunteer coach at Mt. Pleasant Area High School has been accused of sending inappropriate messages to teenage boys.

Ty Cameron Holler, 23, has been charged with two counts each of unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and hiring or permitting a minor to assist in producing or distributing sexual materials.

Holler coached football and baseball at the school.

The charges stem from texts he allegedly sent to boys on the Mt. Pleasant football team in 2014. The boys were 15 and 16.

In both cases, police say Holler sent the boys a photo of a topless female he claimed was a Indiana University of Pennsylvania student who “wanted to get to know” the boy, and requested explicit images of the teens.

Holler has been arraigned and released on a $25,000 bond.

His attorney, Michael Ferguson, questions why the allegations surfaced four years after they allegedly happened.

“To portray this as any type of a predator or a Jerry Sandusky type of a character is completely ludicrous, it’s not supported by the facts,” Ferguson said.

The attorney said he has not seen any of the alleged text messages and thinks this could be “locker room talk.”

“Anybody who has been in a football locker room or a basketball locker room or college athletic locker room as I have, if you were a fly on the wall, you’d hear a lot of discussion about girls and about sex,” Ferguson said.

A statement from the Mt. Pleasant Schools superintendent indicated that Holler was “directed to leave campus, relieved of his duties and told not to return,” immediately after officials were aware of the allegations.

This is a developing story, stay with KDKA and watch Paul Martino’s story at 5 p.m. for more.